The Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime was conceived on October 8th, 1992, during the Bouchercon convention in Toronto. Sisters in Crime International was just five years old, and the board had arranged a Toronto dinner where Sara Paretsky, one of the founders, made a stirring speech about the purposes of Sisters in Crime: increased respect for women writing crime fiction, including better access to book reviews and contests. Sara Paretsky’s uplifting words inspired Cathy Dunphy, Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Deanna Dunn, Maureen Jennings, Helen Lightbown, and Lynne Murphy. Before the end of Bouchercon, these intrepid authors decided to start the Toronto chapter.
Here is an excerpt from Lynne Murphy’s history of Sisters in Crime, Toronto Chapter:
On November 4th we met in the kindergarten room of a private school in the Annex, where we elected an executive. Three months later, we had our first meeting on February 10th, 1993. Our speakers were two female police officers who discussed their work. In March, the late Medora Sale spoke about her writing, and in May, we heard Margaret Cannon, who still reviews mysteries for the Globe and Mail newspaper.
In those early years, we also heard from the late Allison Gordon, who wrote baseball mysteries.
A bone specialist, an assistant crown attorney, a crime scene expert, a psychological profiler, and a defence lawyer all presented. We held our first Holiday Party at the Madison Hotel. We enjoyed dinner with Sara Paretsky, lunches with Janet Evanovich and Val McDermid, and afternoon tea with Laurie King. Mary Weins of the Candadian Broadcasing Corporation (CBC) did a story on our Nancy Drew night, and TVO produced an episode of Imprint about us.
Maureen, Sylvia, and the late Rosemary Aubert led us on walks through the neighbourhoods where their novels were set. Vicki Delaney wrote a play for us, the genesis of her Klondike mysteries. Maureen Jennings’ Murdoch were adapted for TV.
In 2012, to celebrate our twentieth anniversary, Helen Nelson and Janet Costello organized the publication of The Whole She-Bang, an anthology of stories by Sisters, which was well received by reviewers. Two more She-Bangs anthologies followed in 2014 and 2016.
Our former presidents include Linda Morse, Lynne Murphy, Deanna Dunn, Cathy Dunphy, Helen Nelson, Leslie Mang, and Kate Freiman, who kept us going during COVID by organizing meetings on Zoom.